[tta_listen_btn]
June 14 2016
The internet is bursting with the content on project management techniques, tools and best practices. There are blogs that contain technical advice, recent advancements and prevalent techniques and then there are websites, whitepapers and e-books that claim to provide important insights and sample roadmaps etc.
Project management is much more than superficial planning and experience doesn’t always help as every project has something unique to it and it can always take you to an uncharted territory where you might feel stuck and helpless. To avoid situations like these, we have a piece of advice that might help you sail smoothly during the course of the project.
Setup Milestones:
So the first thing that any given project manager would do before the development starts is breaking the work into smaller and more manageable chunks and defining a timeline for each of them. Your project chunks might take several hours to several weeks to several months but once you are in the know of the time required, it will be a lot easier for you to work in a more productive manner.
Its important have a kick-off meeting before the project begins in order to establish milestones. Slightly ambiguous goals are okay as things get refined with time but you should keep checking the status in order to keep track.
Involve Stakeholders:
Stakeholders’ involvement plays a key role in the success of the project. The requirements may be refined and the technologies to build the software also may change but keeping the stakeholders informed will help the organization leaders develop and maintain a healthy relationship with them.
Miscommunication can wreak havoc on the entire team and cause irreversible harm to the project and organization’s relationship with the client ceasing all possibilities of future business with them.
Take Task Management Very Seriously:
One of the most critical factors in project planning is assigning the right tasks to the right resources. If the task you assign your team are in line with their expertise, the pace of progress will be impressive. To for an efficient team, the strengths and weaknesses of the human resources must be known to the management so they can decide how they can engage their employees in the best possible way.
With definite roles assigned to everyone, tracking the progress of the project becomes a lot easier and in case of any sudden changes in requirements, each team member will know what they are responsible for and keep the project going.
Motivate, Manage and Co-ordinate:
Motivation is the fuel that you need to get your team going. Your team will give their best if you’ll motivate them enough. Adopt a policy of reward for the best workers and encourage everyone to become the star performer.
Effective management involves keeping an eye on all the processes through multiple dimensions so that you may be able to identify immediately if anything goes wrong at any point. The co-ordination also plays a vital role in the success of a project so all the concerned departments must be brought under one umbrella to carry out effective communication.
Regular Performance Reviews:
Performance reviews should be conducted on regular intervals to make sure that you are not losing track. Also, the constant speculation makes the project more adaptive to future changes. The best software code is always upgrade safe and it’s easier to make it evolve with the changing requirements. With consistent reviews and analyses many unexpected problems can be countered.
Meet Deadlines:
Meeting the deadlines is not only important for your reputation but also for keeping the track that you initially fixed for the project. A well thought out work breakdown structure (WBS) is the backbone of any project. You can set up milestone charts with classification of tasks and share them with your team.
Doing so will keep reminding everyone of their role and the assigned time for a particular project. Forecasting the issues or unanticipated requirements in a project is not always possible but you can prepare yourself well with the forward thinking approach that ultimately leads to success.
